Chapter 154 #2
He came closer and looked directly at Rhaevan.
"Now, remove your hands from my delicate soul."
Eww.
Rhaevan's grip around my waist tightened instead.
His expression darkened, and whatever amusement had been there moments ago disappeared completely.
"Stay away from her."
The chief guard gasped as though Rhaevan had just committed the greatest offense imaginable.
"No!"
He turned toward me, threw his arms open dramatically, and declared, "My radiant star! Come forth into my arms!"
I stared at him.
Then at his outstretched arms.
Then at Rhaevan, whose expression had become positively murderous.
Wonderful. I was just about to witness manslaughter.
"My love..." the chief guard said, glancing past me toward Rhaevan. His expression slowly changed as he took in the scene.
"...Why is the prisoner standing?"
He looked down.
"And why are his chains missing?"
I smiled as naturally as I could.
"Oh, that."
He waited.
"His Majesty ordered that the prisoner be transferred."
The guard frowned.
"I received no such order."
"That's because it came directly from the royal family."
"Oh."
He considered that for a moment.
"Which royal family?"
I stared at him.
"...The royal one."
His brow furrowed even further.
I could practically hear his two remaining brain cells struggling to communicate.
Then his expression brightened.
"My moon..."
"If moving those chains has tired you, I shall carry both you and the prisoner across the palace myself."
I blinked.
"...That's generous."
"I would carry mountains for you."
"How romantic."
"I would wrestle the ocean."
"Please don't."
"I would compose eight hundred sonnets in your honor."
Rhaevan stared at him with his arm still possessively wrapped around my waist. His expression was one of complete bewilderment, as though he had encountered a new species of creature and wasn't quite sure how to classify it.
Then his eyebrows lifted.
"...Cassiane?"
I looked at him.
His expression remained perfectly calm.
"Do you have something to do with this?"
He gestured toward the guard, who had apparently moved on from declarations of devotion and was now humming a completely improvised song about riding horseback beneath the moon.
I hesitated.
Rhaevan's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Did you cast an eternal love spell on him?"
I stared at him.
"...Maybe. Wait...et..eternal? what do you mean, eternal?!"
His expression didn't change.
I swallowed, mortified at what I had done.
"I thought it was an attack spell! I didn't know what it was supposed to do! I don't know the counterspell either. Wait, is there even a counterspell? I knew I shouldn't have trusted that book!! Stupid spell book!"
Rhaevan looked at the guard, then back at me.
Behind us, the guard launched enthusiastically into another poem.
"Your beauty eclipses the moon..."
Rhaevan slowly pinched the bridge of his nose.
He closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and exhaled through his nose as though he were using every ounce of self-control he possessed not to lose his mind.
When he finally looked at me again, his expression had softened.
"Cassie, dove."
"Yes?" I asked, my cheeks warming at the endearment.
"Could you wait outside the dungeon? I'll be there in a while."
I blinked.
"...Why?"
"I need a moment."
His gaze shifted toward the guard.
"I'll deal with the... counterspell."
I looked between the two men.
"Don't hurt yourself. And try not to kill him."
Rhaevan gave me a patient look.
His eyes moved toward the guard again.
"I'll try."
I decided that was probably the best promise I was going to get. Not that I cared. I ran my fingers along his jaw and whispered with a pout, "Don't take too long."
"I won't."
He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss before letting me go.
I stepped into the corridor and quietly pulled the door shut behind me.
Silence settled over the dungeon.
Then-
THUD.
A muffled yelp followed.
Another thud.
"...Ow."
Something heavy scraped across the stone floor.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
God bless the soul of that man.
With that prayer, I walked farther down the corridor and out of the dungeon.
---
Author POV
Inside the chamber, the chief guard immediately scrambled towards the door.
"The mother of my children-"
He never got to finish.
Rhaevan caught him by the collar and yanked him backwards.
"Shut your filthy mouth."
"My moon-"
That was the last shred of patience Rhaevan possessed.
He seized the man by the throat and hauled him into the centre of the chamber, his eyes burning with barely restrained fury.
"I said shut it, you spineless swine."
The poor man stared at him in utter confusion.
"But she is the love of my-"
A swift punch to the jaw cut him off.
The guard staggered backwards before dropping onto one knee, blinking dazedly. Rhaevan stood over him, slowly flexing his fingers as he felt the familiar stir of magic returning to his body.
For the first time since the chains had been removed, his magic was responding properly.
He gathered a small amount of it between his fingertips. A pulse of blue-white light illuminated the chamber before he pressed two glowing fingers against the guard's forehead and murmured a spell beneath his breath.
The magic seeped into the man's mind.
The guard's eyes rolled back as his entire body began to tremble.
Rhaevan could feel the spell taking hold, scrambling the man's thoughts and dulling his ability to recognise faces, places, or even properly understand what was happening around him.
It would be difficult for him to identify Rhaevan, remember his face, or make sense of the events that had just occurred.
Satisfied, Rhaevan withdrew his hand.
The guard slumped unconscious onto the floor.
Rhaevan looked down at him, the corner of his mouth lifting into a dangerous smirk.
"You dare mutter those words to my dove?" he growled. "You dare fall under her love spell? Well, let me see how that brain of yours works now."
He studied the unconscious man for another moment before adding, almost conversationally, "You are even more fortunate that I'm in a good mood and that my dove specifically asked me not to kill you."
His expression hardened.
"Nobody bothers her. Not while I'm alive. Ever. She's mine."
His gaze then dropped to the guard's uniform.
He considered it for a moment before a faintly amused smile appeared on his face.
"I'm borrowing your clothes."
He snapped his fingers.
Five minutes later, the prison door opened.
A palace guard stepped into the corridor.
Except it wasn't a palace guard.
It was Rhaevan.
The stolen uniform concealed most of the marks left by the shackles. He was still pale, and exhaustion lingered beneath his eyes, but the armour and helmet hid enough of his condition to make him look like any other soldier assigned to dungeon duty.
He adjusted the helmet, lowered the visor slightly, and stepped into the corridor.
Then, with the calm and authoritative bearing of a man who had every right to be there, Rhaevan strode through the dungeon as though he had never been a prisoner at all.